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Drawing on three culturally specific research projects, this paper examines how community-based knowledge brokers' engagement in brokering knowledge shaped the projects' processes. Informed by Deleuze and Guattari's (1987) conceptualization of the "rhizome," we discuss how community knowledge brokers' engagement in open research-creation practices embrace the relational foundation of Indigenous research paradigms in contrast to mainstream Western research practices that are engaged as linear, objective, and outcome-oriented activities. In turn, we offer propositions for building team environments where open research-creation practices can unfold, informing a periphery of shared space for Indigenous and Western paradigms.

This article explores the application of two-eyed seeing in the first year of a three-year study about the effectiveness of cultural interventions in First Nations alcohol and drug treatment in Canada. Two-eyed seeing is recognized by Canada's major health research funder as a starting point for bringing together the strengths of Indigenous and Western ways of knowing. With the aim of developing a culture-based measurement tool, our team carried out an Indigenous-centred research process with our interpretation of two-eyed seeing as a guiding principle. This enabled us to engage in a decolonizing project that prioritized Indigenous methodologies and ways of knowing and knowledge alongside those of Western science. By concentrating on Indigenous governance in the research process, our project supported efforts at Indigenous cultural renewal. Two illustrations are offered, our team's reconceptualization of Western derived understandings of data collection through Indigenous storytelling and our research grant timeframe with Indigenous knowledge gardening. This article contributes to the Indigenous research and policy literature which is lacking documentation about how Indigenous communities and research teams are benefitting from two-eyed seeing.

The well-being of Indigenous peoples continues to be affected by intergenerational effects of numerous harmful government policies, which are considered root causes for bullying and cyberbullying that exist in some communities. Despite ongoing stressors, Indigenous youth demonstrate resilience, which often appears grounded in connecting to their cultural identities and traditional practices. However, few studies have tested the direct and stress-buffering role of various aspects of culture in relation to well-being among First Nations youth. Analyses of the 2015–16 First Nations Regional Health Survey (RHS) revealed that bullying and cyberbullying were associated with increased psychological distress among youth aged 12–17 living in First Nations communities across Canada ( N  = 4,968; weighted = 47,918), and that these links were stronger for females. Feelings of community belonging were directly associated with lower distress and buffered the relationships between bullying/cyberbullying and distress. Among youth who experienced cyberbullying, those who participated in community cultural events at least sometimes reported lower distress compared to those who rarely or never participated. Those who disagreed that traditional cultural events were important reported the highest levels of distress, but perceived importance of such events failed to buffer the associations between bullying/cyberbullying and distress. These national data highlight the importance of certain culture-related variables as key factors associated with the well-being of youth living in First Nations communities across Canada.

First Nations and Inuit youth who abuse solvents are one of the most highly stigmatized substance-abusing groups in Canada. Drawing on a residential treatment response that is grounded in a culture-based model of resiliency, this article discusses the cultural implications for psychiatry's individualized approach to treating mental disorders. A systematic review of articles published in The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry during the past decade, augmented with a review of Canadian and international literature, revealed a gap in understanding and practice between Western psychiatric disorder-based and Aboriginal culture-based approaches to treatment and healing from substance abuse and mental disorders. Differing conceptualizations of mental health and substance abuse are discussed from Western psychiatric and Aboriginal worldviews, with a focus on connection to self, community, and political context. Applying an Aboriginal method of knowledge translation-storytelling-experiences from front-line workers in a youth solvent abuse treatment centre relay the difficulties with applying Western responses to Aboriginal healing. This lends to a discussion of how psychiatry can capitalize on the growing debate regarding the role of culture in the treatment of Aboriginal youth who abuse solvents. There is significant need for culturally competent psychiatric research specific to diagnosing and treating First Nations and Inuit youth who abuse substances, including solvents. Such understanding for front-line psychiatrists is necessary to improve practice. A health promotion perspective may be a valuable beginning point for attaining this understanding, as it situates psychiatry's approach to treating mental disorders within the etiology for Aboriginal Peoples.